As his UCLA football team suffered through a poor season in the early 1970s, head coach Pepper Rodgers came under intense criticism and pressure from alumni and fans. Things got so bad, he remembers with a smile, that friends became hard to find. “My dog was my only true friend,” Rodgers says of that year. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends—and she bought me another dog.”

Today many people suffer from loneliness and heartbreak. From children as young as twelve to senior adults are so lonely and heartbroken, without friends or hope that they turn to suicide. Recently in an attempt to prey on these lonely people, there are those who have posted on social media guidelines and directions on how to commit suicide. Hopelessness can lead us to do terrible things. Today we begin a series in Acts entitled Acts of the Holy Spirit, the Unfinished Work of Jesus. Yes, I know that on the cross Jesus uttered the words, “It is finished.” And, His redemptive work is completed, but His work of reclaiming the lost who remain is continued in us through the power of His Holy Spirit. The Gospel brings hope to the hopeless and strength to the weak. But, like a cup of cool water to a thirsty person, it needs someone to carry it. You and I are the bearers of that cool cup of hope. Until every man, woman, and child have the opportunity to possess that cool cup of hope in Jesus Christ, the work of Christ is incomplete. Like the old song says, “We’ll work till Jesus comes.”